In many religious denominations, worshippers customarily light votive candles in honor or commemoration of certain festivals or events. Typically, such candles burn for a predetermined duration and are displayed within the church on stands capable of holding an array of lit candles.
In many large religious institutions, multiple candle stands are employed in order to satisfy the needs of a great number of congregants. Commonly, several large stands each containing more than fifty lit candles may be used simultaneously.
In recent years, several techniques have been employed to modernize the votive candle. Such devices as oil candles (which burn liquid oil and may be filled and maintained more easily and cheaply than the continued purchase of wax candles) have found favor in religious institutions. Even more recently, electric light bulbs which simulate the yellow and flickering light of a candle have become popular.
Because electric light bulbs do not "burn down" like a candle, some method of controlling the duration of actuation of these light bulbs is needed. Typical of such a method is a mechanical timer which is set for a predetermined duration of burn and extinguishes the light bulb by actuation of a switch at the conclusion of that predetermined time interval. Such a mechanical timing device performs satisfactorily for locations where a uniform time of actuation is desirable. However, most such systems are incapable of being actuated for precisely controlled variable periods. Such mechanical timers are also an integral part of a light stand and are subject to breakage which renders the stand inoperable.
Among the types of electric bulbs used in votive candle stands, the most desirable are neon "flicker flame" bulbs which operate from a 110 volt AC power source. Although low voltage candle type bulbs have been developed, these bulbs commonly fail to faithfully reproduce the light of a wax or oil candle flame as faithfully as the higher voltage bulbs. In systems employing low voltage electrical lights, control of such lights by electrical circuits using solid state timers is known. Such systems typically employ standard solid state timer components such as 555 type devices and are typically operable only for a single predetermined period of time. Such a timer device is started by the actuation of a switch associated with a particular lamp and begins to count down time from a predetermined level. Upon reaching zero, such systems typically switch a power transistor in order to extinguish the particular light associated with a given timer chip.
Although such electronic systems are superior in function and reliability to prior mechanical systems, they still lack certain desirable features and fail to adequately simulate the light of a candle flame due to their use of low voltage bulbs.